Lets ride 4 wheelers up an active volcano.

Due to an extensive demand for an update I am blogging. Just kidding Stephab. Wellll lets see whats new. Hunter and I have some pretty serious sickness going on. Not that serious but we both have felt bad for about 3 weeks and today we got some medicine that should kick it in the butt- hopefully. The final countdown has begun, 2 weeks and 2 days left. This past weekend was phenomenal- Saturday being potentially the best day of the entire trip. We went to Baños, a city about 5 hours outside of Quito known for its hot springs (Baños being the spanish word for baths), as well as for its active volcano which recently had a fairly big eruption. Friday after school we navigated our way to the bus terminal (well Charles navigated us) and eventually got to Baños and found a bad A hotel. (anyone going to Baños should stay in Hotel Ross- ten bucks a night plus breakfast.) Upon arriving Sarah and I decided it would be a good idea to try the local Capriña. This was around 5 oclock so by 9 we had turned the town into an Ecuadorian Bourbon street. At 9 we got our whole group together (17 of us) and took a party bus to the top of the volcano. Unfortunately it was too cloudy to see any lava. When we returned from the volcano/lookout point we went to a bar for a little bit but around 12 I was ready to be in a bed. The next morning we got up and all rented mountain bikes for 5 bucks a piece and went on literally the most beautiful bike ride of my life. We went pretty far I think around 20 miles, saw a ton of waterfalls and mountains, rode a cable car across a river and then hiked to see one of the bigger waterfalls which was a pain in the south american ass to get back up- but well worth it. The people from the bike place picked us up at this point and we all loaded into the back of a pick up truck- I wish someone would've kept count of the number of times this has happened- and went back into town. From here we got a little lunch and then decided to rent dirt bikes, 4 wheelers and dune buggies (me) to drive up the volcano. It was amazing!!! I mean the views could literally not be any better and this was nice because it required no physical strain for the most part. We got back to town around 6 and then went to an incredible cheap international restaurant called Casa Hood. I had pad thai, hummus, chips and guacamole AND the best mocha milkshake i have ever had. Between the 9 of us we ordered an absurd amount of food were all stuffed and spent only 75 dollars. It was great. After this we got a few bottles of wine and went to the roof of our hotel which turned out to be a great look out spot. We sat up there and just hung out until we all fell asleep. The next day Sarah and I shopped around, then rented a dune buggie which we drove around town for a while and then ate some lunch and watched the final world cup game. Afterwards we got a private bus to take us back to Quito- a great idea.

Monday our class went on a field trip with our hilarious ecology teacher to the Paramo- a region of Ecuador similar to tundra but with some other stuff.. i cant remember anyways it was really cool. Tomorrow we have our midterm in Ecology and a presentation and Friday we leave for the Tiputini Biodiversity station which should be bad to the bone no doubt. Got to go study!

La Adventura Continua!

Well this week has been eventful to say the least. The galapagos were amazing! We were on a fairly small boat with 15 other people, one couple was from austin, tx they were super cool. There was a girl from Holland, Paulina and a guy from Ireland, Steve. Then there was an older couple who lived in Quito but were from the states- he worked in the US Embassy. The last couple was from Canada. We did some amazing snorkling- with baby sea lions and star fish and mantarays and penguins, iguanas, SHARKS! It was great. We saw a whole bunch of blue footed boobies, red footed boobies and friggid birds as well as finches and some big ole turtles or tortoises im not sure which they were. The water was typically pretty cold but once you got used to it it was perfect! The beaches were beautiful as were the sun sets and the stars at night. We could see the southern cross clearly which you can only see from a certain hemisphere so that was cool. Also one night we literally saw the moon rise- maybe one of the coolest things ive ever seen. Sarah and I made a routine of jumping off one of the higher points of the ship during the afternoon to swim around it was a lot of fun. The food was fantastic, something we were not all expecting, it helped to compensate for the atrocious motion sickness we all felt. Sarah and I slept up on the top of the boat for two of the three nights because the motion was so much less than in our washing machine (our room). Mom and Dad if you are reading this I've decided that im going to make a lot of money and send you on a cruise to the Galapagos but only on a huge amazing boat so mom doesnt get sea sick. The last night of the cruise we docked in Santa Cruz and went out on the town with the crew and our tour guide. SO. MUCH. FUN. There is a new law in Ecuador that bars have to stop selling alcohol at 12 on week days and 2 on weekends- so basically we are back in oxford with out the perks. Well good thing we had Lenny and Co. (boat crew) to take us to some underground salsa clubs!! It was so much fun. After we left the first club we all hopped in a taxi (pick up truck cerca 1940) and asked the tour guide to give us an "island tour"- hilarious. Next we ended up at another club that was still open but here we were the only people, I also remember it being Michael Jackson themed if im not mistaken. We caught a boat taxi back to the Angelique and slept for approximately 2 and a half hours until we had to get up for our final day excursion. After the cruise, Walt Sarah and I decided we wanted to go to the beach for the remainder of the week since we were already so close to the coast! Instead of going on to Quito we got off in Guayaquil and then incredibly found the bus station and the correct bus to Montanita, a beach a few friends of ours had visited and loved a few weeks before. I have to say reflecting back it is really a miracle we make it anywhere around here, we depend so much on the assistance of strangers and other english speaking travelers! We got to the beach- in a nutshell this place is Bonnarroo as a city plus surfing and lots of clubs. The first night we got stuck staying in a more expensive hostal but then we found "rickys hostal" which was one of the best finds of the entire summer trip. The guy working there, Victor Hugo (no lie) was a surfer from venezuela! He taught us how to surf, made us dinner and took us out with his friends! So much fun. The people staying in our hostal were really cool- a guy from london, a girl from Buenos Aires and everyone had great stories to tell. We had some incredible seafood (ceviche) and Sarah and I have found a new drink we are obsessed with- caprinias basically a mojito with a special brazilian liquor. Amazing. Saturday Victor hooked us up with some of his friends who do paragliding and so we hopped in the back of a pick up truck (this seems to be a trend) drove about thirty minutes down the beach with some crazy ecuadorian guys and then jumped off a cliff! Hopefully walt will post his pictures soon of these characters and our paragliding adventure. Sunday we caught a bus ride home and then an airplane to quito. We had orientation yesterday with all the new Ole Miss kids, im so glad they are all here! Last night we went back to our wine place and chilled for a long time, it was nice. Today I woke up with a major headache and Im about to get ready for our afternoon class! We are going to be in class for a lot more time this month but i think our classes will be really interesting. I think this weekend we are going to try and plan a trip to Banos- a place where you can white water raft, repel, all sorts of cool stuff. Then the next weekend we are going to the Tiputini Biodiversity station which should be really really cool. Got to go get ready for escuela! Chao!